IEBC to probe high number of rejected presidential votes

Thursday, August 10, 2017 20:11

By EDWIN OKOTH

Casting the ballot. The rejected votes so far are about two per cent of the votes cast. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will need a probe to reveal the reasons behind the huge number of rejected votes after provincial presidential results placed the figure at 398,109.

IEBC chief executive Ezra Chiloba on Thursday said the commission will review the results on the manual forms for discrepancies between the digitally projected numbers and those recorded at polling stations.

“The rejected votes so far are about two per cent of the votes cast, we have not done any analysis so far but we will do it using the forms from polling stations and tallying centers to see if there is any anomaly,” Mr Chiloba said.

The high number of rejected votes rekindles memories of the 2013 election when the tally stood at 330,000 but later reduced to 40,000 after electronic transmission was discontinued and the manual one adopted.